Dylan speaks his mind
This is the first episode of the rebooted Harpers Falls series. With the familiar Harpers and some new characters always livening things up in the Louisburg Square area. This episode (as some episodes will be done from time to time) will be told from the viewpoint of the characters. This one is from the viewpoint of Dylan Harper. I've never really felt insecure about a lot of things in my life. But then again, I had never seen the need to be that way. And why not? Everyone looks at me and they saw Dylan Harper, one of the Harpers, a member of one of the most powerful families in all of New England. Why would I be insecure, people would ask me . But believe me, some people just wouldn't understand. Mom's friend, Marilyn Rhomberg asked me that one time at a charity event, and I was unable to answer. Fortunately, for me, Mom extracated me from that inquisition and got Marilyn in on a conversation with my friend, Sean's mother, Eileen. Marilyn talked with me after that charity event and apologized to me for embarrassing me. I told her it was ok. She is still a good person. My mom is Wendy Harper, and she is the greatest woman I know. She is, technically, really only my stepmother, but I consider her as much my mother as my deceased birth mother, Shelby Harper. Wendy has a son of her own, Eric, but Dad adopted him when he and Wendy married. Yes, I call Wendy, Mom, because to me, she IS my Mom. I love her as much as I loved my birth mother, but see, Wendy is a lot different than my real mom was. My real mom interfered a lot in my life, and Mom doesn't do that. I always know I can turn to her for advice, and when I get to missing my birth mother, I know I can always get protection from her, because to me, she filled a void that my real mom left when she died. My mother passed away when we all lived in Pennsylvania; she was murdered by some piece of scum that was getting some sick revenge. Ironically, he was my sister, Rosemary's late and hated father in-law. She and my brother in-law Mark Wilson, are happy. My nephew, A.J. keep them busy. I should know, I also have someone named A.J. to keep me busy. That someone is my spouse, Adam Jonathan Mathison-Harper. He usually goes by Adam, but only I can call him, A.J. Although, I usually prefer to call him Adam, which is a beautiful name and doesn't really need adorning, he sometimes goes by A.J., but I only call him that rarely, as it gets confusing with my nephew sharing the same name. Adam and I have been married now a couple of years and he truly completes my life. Everyone looks at us and they see how happy we are. My cousin, Cara Niewoehner, a neurologist at Mass General, says that all the women are envious of Adam, and all the guys are jealous of what he and I have! Cara and I had a laugh about that one. Also living with us is my long-time best friend, Barry Harper. Barry became a part of our family after his dad moved out of Boston and moved to Washington to be with Barry's mother. Barry saw himself as more of a Harper than a VanAnderman, and his parents convinced my dad to adopt him as well. It was hard, for Barry and I to become brothers, but we did and we're as close as ever. My dad is Michael Harper and he is the greatest dad in the world. I guess everyone says that about their dads, but I know Dad is the greatest. He and my Aunt Michelle are the oldest of the two sets of twins in my family. Dad had a hand in adopting my sister, Hannah. She was my half-sister, Aileen's, friend, and after Aileen and the rest of the family put the animosity behind us, Hannah became a part of the family. Hannah is married to Craig Atchley, they live in Cambridge in a lovely mansion on Mount Auburn Avenue, and she is the mother of my niece, Maggie. Recently, I got a new aunt. My uncle Aaron recently married his long-time girlfriend, Marta Srinivasen. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen. Aunt Marta's family came in from Mumbai, India, and it was truly memorable. Mom and Dad got along well with her family. Aunt Marta's brother and sister, my new Uncle Raj and Aunt Kaia, fit into the family like a glove. Aunt Kaia and Aunt Marta spent a lot of time with my cousin, Ellen Lucas (she and her mother, Susie, came to town for the wedding). Ellen enjoyed their company. I got along wonderfully with Aunt Marta's mom and dad, Jawarhal and Nalia. Mrs. Srinivasen was quite a powerful woman, and even my Mom was awestruck. She and my cousin, Sheila talked about fabrics all night long. Mr. Srinivasen was also very knowlegeable about politics. He spent all evening at the reception talking politics with Adrienne Farrington and her sister, Kylie. Those two are two politically powerful sisters in town. Kylie works at City Hall and Adrienne is a political consultant who worked with Marla Stanton, a current councilwoman. The one person who was angry about everything was my stupid aunt Erica. How do I explain about my Aunt Erica? I swear, she is the reason that some people look askance at us. Erica was only recently released from prison a couple of years ago, but she is aiming to be put right back in! I swear, she picked a fight with Aunt Marta, calling her some vile names. Thankfully, Aunt Samantha and Aunt Veronica stopped her. But MAN, did my Aunt Patricia put her down and down HARD! When I am out and about, some people ask me, who is the real head of our family. I answer them in this manner: "My dad and my Aunt Michelle, but the matriarch is my Aunt Patricia." Aunt Patricia's sister was my Grandma Violet Harper. Our family ties are so confusing at times; thank heavens Rosemary has our family tree online or nobody would figure it out! I am close to her and her family. My second cousin, Alicia, was Ellen's mother; and I am close with her siblings, Roger and Caitlyn. Roger goes with his partner, Matt Ackerman; and Caitlyn is still unattached. My cousins, Sheila and Anyssa, (Aunt Michelle is their mom) are mothers themselves. Anyssa has four children, all of them are in school now. Sammy (the oldest and only boy) is quite the rough and tumble boy, but he has a lot of sensitivity. He still has his doll, Lollie. He plays with her all the time, and loves her dearly. His sister, Courtney Sue, is a whiz at school. She loves to learn, she always has. Ellie is a good student too, but she is so shy and withdrawn that it has Anyssa worried. I think it had to do with when Ellie was kidnapped by Aunt Erica. Jolie is the tomboy of the bunch. She cannot be bothered with girly things, and she prefers to play sports. I think she spends more time with my nephew, A.J., a lot. Especially when Rose and Mark come over, Jolie wants to play with him a lot. Which I can see, Jolie and A.J. are best friends. Sheila's daughter, Catherine, is a protector, much like Sheila is to me. Catherine and Maggie took Ellie under their wing and they spend a lot of time playing together. Maggie also spends a lot of time with Courtney Sue and they are reading a lot. Courtney Sue is always intrigued by Maggie's stories about London. She has fallen in love with London. I think I will arrange for Anyssa and Bryan to take her to London, when she is a bit older. I think she will like it. Our whole family lives in Louisburg Square, what some would call the most ritzy area of Beacon Hill. That name means two different things to people here in Massachusetts. For some, it means the area that we all live in, one of the most expensive parts of Boston; and for others it is a nickname for where the Massachusetts State House is. They also call it Beacon Hill for where the State House is. Mom and Dad live almost the whole length of the square across from my house. You can tell it is my house from the lilacs that blossom there in the Spring. Our Aunt Velda Smithfield (really Anyssa's blood aunt, but she adopted our whole family after having worked for Grandmother and Grandfather for many years) has everyone's numbers on Speed Dial, which is good for all of us, otherwise she would NEVER keep up with us! Living with me is Adam, of course, and Barry. Also living with me is Sheila and Allen and Catherine; also with us is Shawn and Audra. They are my cousins, their mother is Aunt Samantha; and also living with us now is Libby Atchison. She has her own room here in the townhouse. Sheila, Allen and Catherine live in their own wing of the house. Why do we live here in Louisburg Square? That is an easy question to answer. We sold our mansion to Harper Academy, as the school was growing and the buildings were needed for classroom space. Dad was headmaster for a long while, while Aunt Michelle taught Orchestra. Now, Uncle Jason is the headmaster. Dad now works with Aunt Michelle at Harper Industries. Aunt Michelle lives with her long time partner, Aunt Sydney. Aunt Sydney met Alex (my late spouse) and I when we lived in London. Alex and I ran the London branch of Harper Industries for a time, and she worked at AXA. She was impressed with the job Alex and I had done at bringing Harper Industries to a good place in London, and she became our friend. She met Aunt Michelle when she visited London to check up on us! They were entranced, and after Aunt Michelle left Marie, they became partners in business and in life! It was wonderful. As I said, Aunt Michelle and Dad are the de facto heads of the family, but our matriarch is clearly Aunt Patricia. Although sometimes, I think Aunt June (Grandfather's sister) thinks she should have some say. She is our fun aunt. Aunt June never married, and never had kids, but she has her retinue of men. When she lived in Sarasota, Florida, she took in a group of beach guys and they became her household staff. She calls them June's boys. They are on the same level as the rest of the family, and we consider them our cousins as well! Aunt Erica complains about them, and so does the rest of the 'Boring Beacon Hill biddies' as Aunt June calls them. June doesn't listen, and she ignores anything Erica says, to the benefit of the rest of the family. Aunt June always had a mind of her own. Right now, I am in my den. Things have been crazy lately, as I was almost the victim of a killing. Aunt Erica had hired a henchman to pass himself off as Grandfather Harper. He was ordered to kill me, because it would have left the family weakened so Erica could have an open grab at the family fortune. She had it in for the family, and has always complained about the so-called 'outsiders' that were infiltrating the family. Of course, the ONLY outsider she liked was Nigel Bennett. (Could it be that she was 'married' to him was the main reason?) Nigel was a troubled soul, and he was married to a friend of our family named Sharmaine Jones. (Aunt Marta was Sharmaine's personal assistant, until she got a job at Harper Industries) Erica had caused him to commit bigamy, and she also manipulated him to impregnate Hannah. Yes, Nigel was Maggie's birth father; and Erica had nearly drove Hannah crazy by trying to take her away. That was stopped by Steven, Maggie's uncle; and also by Craig. The day Craig married my sister, was also the day that he adopted Maggie and made her his daughter. Erica was FURIOUS with that, but oh, well! Erica and my cousin Cara hate one another immensely. Erica had constantly cut off any communication between her and Joanna. Cara was Jo's only living blood relative; and I thought it was despicable for Aunt Erica to do that to Jo. However, Cara came back into Jo's life and they are inseparable. To me, Cara counts as my family. Jo is my cousin, and so is Cara. Our family includes those from outside of our bloodline. A good example of that is the Balducci family. Philomena Balducci is a divorced socialite who lives two doors down from Mom and Dad. She has two grown children, Rocco and Angelina. Rocco lives in Philadelphia; while Angelina is a nun in Portland, Maine. Rocco has three kids, Maureen, a college student; Antonio, who lives in Philly, and Sean who lives here in Boston. Aunt Philo and Aunt India are always together. They are sometimes arguing and shouting so loud all of the Square can hear it; but other times, they are palling it up on Charles Street. They are something else. Aunt Philo comes over to the townhouse every Sunday and cooks us a huge dinner for us, and makes sure we eat. Philo's former daughter in law, Eileen, lives with her former in-law, although they have a very uneasy truce. She had once hated the idea that Sean was gay, and would anger Philo by taking him to conversion therapy; but the night that Erica's henchman nearly murdered me, Eileen went into mother mode and she and Mom really helped me out. Our family is far flung, there is no question on that one! At our latest family dinner, Eileen and Sean were invited for the first time, since they moved to Boston. Now, THEIR family is rather interesting. Sean told us about Maureen and Antonio, his siblings. Maureen attended the University of Maryland in College Park, while Antonio was a bachelor in Philadelphia. Eileen also told us about her life back in Philadelphia. She had a date that night, which kind of annoyed Sean, but he understood. Sean himself has been having diffiuclties in finding someone to date. He has had some people show their interest in him, but he is very shy and introverted, quite the exact opposite of his assured brother. We tend to watch television a lot at the house. Someone would think, as powerful and as often in the news as we are, that we would be out for all kinds of events. Not that we don't do a lot for the community, because we do. Sheila and Anyssa have a lot of charities that they are involved in, and Anyssa is often involved with children's charities, due to her always having been involved with kids. Even before she got pregnant with the quads, she was always working for Children's Miracle Network. Others in our circle include Allen's former in law, Nicholas Haller. Nicholas was married to Allen's sister, Catherine (who he named his daughter after). She died in Hawaii, after some dreadful secrets came to light. Allen's mother, Allison, had had an affair and it was revealed that Catherine was not her husband's daughter. Catherine's dad was Matthew Abbott, whose sister, Marge, works at the TV station that Caitlyn manages. You think that was bad, it gets even worse. It was later revealed that Allison had adopted out Catherine's daugher, Jacqueline, out to try to erase her guilt of her adultery. Jacqueline was enraged and so was the rest of us. She reamed out Allison, and Aunt Victoria slapped her hard across the face. Even her mother, Joan, got tired of her antics and she sent her to Utica. Jacqueline has recovered from the shocks, and she is really happy with her dad and his new girlfriend, Taylor Addison, who owns a used bookstore near Harvard Square. In that same area is a natural food store that my cousin, Lorraine runs. She also runs another store nearby our area on Charles Street. She is a good addition to our family. Her grandfather was my great uncle John. Great Uncle John was married for a brief time to my Aunt India, which is why she is called Aunt India. As I said, my family is enmeshed with many others. Category:Episodes Category:Episodes from a character's view